Francesca and Sharkey

Hosting a Press Event for "Martha Stewart's Cooking School"

On Wednesday of this week, after my regular appearance on The Today Show, I dashed to my offices in the Starrett Lehigh building in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. I needed to get there on time because I was hosting a press event in our new kitchen set. This kitchen is actually one of my kitchens from The Home Depot and it was relocated from my television show. We were celebrating the launch of my brand new television show, “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School,” premiering October 6 and 7 on PBS stations nationwide. Fans can access clips of the show each week, along with recipes, on PBS.org. We’ll also offer the show in full, along with recipes, on marthastewart.com within 48 hours of airing. Viewers will learn the basics or improve their cooking skills while studying classic recipes and classic techniques that are the building blocks of a culinary education. They’ll also pick up a few of my favorite kitchen tricks. I hope you’ll tune in!

1 We served our guests a colorful breakfast of vibrant soft scrambled eggs from my own chickens, tomato coulis, and brioche toast with my homemade jam. The eggs were flavored with parsley and chives and formed into quenelle shapes.

2 An elegant way to serve grapefruit is to loosen the segments from the membranes with a sharp knife and broil the grapefruit halves for a few minutes, then top each half with a candied blood orange slice. The recipe is on page 325 of my book, Martha's Entertaining.

3 Helping in the kitchen was Nicole Coppola - freelance cook and Thomas Joseph - who worked on my TV show and the Cooking School show and is now Director of Food Development.

4 Here I am with Sheila Feren - my publicist who works with me on my television shows and Thomas Joseph.

5 The guests enjoyed their breakfast and were eagerly awaiting my presentation.

6 I welcomed everyone to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and I went on to explain about my new show, Martha Stewart's Cooking School, which is loosely based on my eponymous 2008 best-selling book.

7 The group was very attentive as I told them that what we're trying to accomplish with this show is to teach the viewer how to cook really well.

8 I went on to play a sizzle video from the show.

9 Lisa Cericola - Sr. Food Editor @ iVillage joined me on set for a personal cooking lesson on how to make a really exceptional mac & cheese.

10 I asked Lisa if she enjoyed cooking and she assured me that she did, but would love to find more time to spend in the kitchen.

11 We made a béchamel sauce with melted butter, flour, and milk. When that was nice and thick, we added four cheeses - fontina, extra-sharp cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyere.

12 We seasoned the béchamel with a little cayenne pepper and a generous shaving of nutmeg.

13 When we stirred in the macaroni, the final product was exactly what you want in a mac & cheese - rich and creamy and very cheesy!

14 The mac & cheese was spooned into little ramekins and each one topped with a Parmesan frico crisp for all the guests to sample.

15 The next thing I taught was how to make a simple and delicious vinaigrette. I like to mix grapeseed oil and olive oil when dressing tender greens because grapeseed is much lighter in flavor and balances out the strong flavor of olive oil.

16 I like a three-to-one ratio of oil to vinegar. You can play around with any combination of oil and vinegar (or other acids, like lemon or lime juice), but I prefer the delicate flavor of rice wine vinegar. I also add a spoon of Dijon mustard.